Acoustic Guitar Summit — Mark Hanson, Terry Robb & Doug Smith — bring their scintillating ensemble and solo fingerstyle guitar creations to Artichoke Music for a concert largely of their unique takes on holiday music — like the funky “Good King Wenceslas is One Badass” and “Santa Claus Owes Me Money.” Includes beautiful arrangements of Vince Guaraldi’s “Peanuts”, Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” and Danny Elfmann’s “What’s This?!?” from “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Great fun!
Mark Hanson & Greta Pedersen bring their guitars/uke/vocals act to the monthly Portland Guitar Society meeting May 17, 2026.
Mark Hanson & Greta Pedersen donate a mini-concert to the End-of-Year celebration/dinner/silent auction at Artichoke Music at 2007 SE Powell in Portland, Oregon. We play at 7 p.m.
Mark & Greta concertize at the Auburn State Theatre’s Acoustic Guitar Series on Sunday, April 19, 2026, at 3:00 p.m.
To quote my West Linn (Oregon) friend, classical guitarist/educator Peter Zisa: “History reminds us that many of the world’s greatest thinkers—Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Einstein, and others—were also musicians. Music cultivates creativity, discipline and imagination, qualities that enrich every field of study and strengthen community bonds.” So keep playing! Learn new tunes and arrangements. Share your accomplishments with others. Studies have shown that playing music involves 90% of your brain! Music participation enhances brain health and, no doubt, is good for our souls.
This is always a fully attended, cozy gig at a private home up, the street from the Pacific Ocean!
No one plays perfectly all of the time of course (except Segovia, and he’s gone…), but you can attain a very high level of consistency through proper and plentiful repetition.
By Mark Hanson January 8, 2025 Fingerstyle improvisation is a multi-faceted undertaking. Improvising on a wind instrument (saxophone for instance) requires you to play a new melody, one note at a time. In fingerstyle guitar, you need to do that plus keep the chord and rhythm going underneath. It’s a workout for the brain! A way to get started: First, memorize the chord progression of the tune you want to use. Do this by writing (by hand!) a chord chart of the tune. Early on I discovered that writing by hand has a special connection to the brain; plus you […]
Fingerstyle Guitar Workshop by three award-winning masters: Mark Hanson, Terry Robb and Doug Smith!
Mark & Greta bring their fun vocals. guitars & uke show to this lovely north central Washington town in the Cascade Mountain range. Guitar workshop precedes it at 4:00 p.m.
